1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to archery equipment and, more particularly, relates to bow sights mountable on bow strings.
1. Description of Related Art
Archers have long been using sighting apparatus for improving their shooting or targeting accuracy. Various forms of known sighting apparatus include pin sights, telescopic sights, and similar apparatus mounted to the body of the bow. However, these forms of bow-mounted sighting apparatus have hoe been entirely acceptable, in part because of the distance between the sighting apparatus mounted on the bow and the aiming eye of the archer. Certain bow sights seek to overcome this drawback by mounting a sighting eye piece on an arm extending rearwardly from the body of the bow, thereby providing a sighting element nearer the archer's eye. The archer then sights the target through the arm-mounted eye piece, typically in conjunction with further pin sights or telescopic sights mounted on the body of the bow. However, even this type of bow sight has certain additional disadvantages, including increased weight of the bow, and balance and wind resistance problems caused by the arm extending rearwardly from the bow.
Certain of the disadvantages of the arm-mounted bow sight have been avoided by mounting bow sights on the bow string itself. The sights so mounted are utilized either alone or in conjunction with further sighting equipment mounted on the body of the bow. Known bow string-mounted bow sights include the type known as peep sights. In these sights, a piece typically having a sighting hole is mounted between strands of the bow string a fixed distance above a "nocking" point, or fixed point on the bow string. Fletcher, U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,853, issued Mar. 15, 1977, describes one type of archery peep sight. The Fletcher peep sight comprises a disc secured between strands of a bow string. The disc has a frusto-conical surface disposed inwardly from a first side of the disc and a semi-conical recess formed in a second side of the disc. The disc includes a small sight opening which can be used for viewing a target.
One drawback of the use of peep sights mounted to the bow string has been the tendency of the sight to become vertically misaligned relative to the line of sight of the archer as the bow string is drawn. To negate this effect, one can bore the sight opening at an angle relative to the bow string. With the angled boring, the sight opening aligns with the archer's line of sight and the target only when the bow string is fully drawn. An example of this type of angled sight is shown in Chesnick, U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,733, issued Jan. 14, 1975, where a peep sight is formed such that an archer can only view a target when the bow string is fully drawn.
A drawback of these conventional peep sights mounted to the bow string is that the sight opening itself is typically of very small diameter. The small bore of the sight opening is such that a slight movement of the bow or archer during targeting will cause the target to pass out of the archer's line of sight. The small sight opening also causes difficulty by preventing the archer from easily relocating the target. The archer is thereby forced to look away from the bow sight to relocate the target. In addition, a conventional peep sight is not usable in dim light conditions because the small sight opening does not admit sufficient light.
Carlson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,422, issued Dec. 2, 1986, solved many of the problems encountered in the prior art, especially those encountered because of small sight openings. The Carlson patent teaches a bow sight comprising a frame portion having a relatively large open central area. The frame portion includes front and rear metallic inserts for providing strength and rigidity to the bow sight. An aiming tab or dot is provided in the open central area for aiming purposes. The relatively large size of the open central area compared to the small size of the aiming dot achieves advantageous results in that a small movement of the bow or archer may cause the target to "drift" from the aiming dot, but often does not cause the target to totally disappear from the open central area. The aiming dot is brightly colored to provide better targeting accuracy, especially in low light intensity environments due to the high visibility of the aiming dot.
There is a need for a bow sight having the advantages of the bow sight taught in the Carlson patent, but which is less expensive to produce, has an open area above the aiming dot which is larger, and which performs even better in low light intensity environments.